Plastic cups are implemented at sporting events around the world. Typically, plastic cups are used to serve beer for patrons of the sporting events. Plastic cups are ideal since they are cheap and easily disposed of. Since the plastic cups are designed to be disposed of, they typically do not include adequate insulation for keeping beer chilled.
With every cup of beer poured at a concession stand, large amounts of beer are wasted by pouring the cold beer into a warm plastic cup. The temperature difference between the cold liquid and warm plastic cup generates foam. Since foam takes time to subside, most vendors will scrape or pour the foam out to fill the beer and move along to the next customer. Further, the vendor wants to ensure a patron gets a full glass of beer so that they come back. As such, large amounts of beer are wasted over time as foam is scraped and/or poured out to keep concession lines moving.
Currently, glass mugs are chilled. However, to chill glass mugs, refrigeration means are needed to keep the glass mugs cold. While the cost to chill glass mugs may be acceptable, such a cost to keep plastic cups chilled is prohibitive. Due to the relatively low cost of plastic cups, it does not make economic sense to chill the plastic cups by refrigeration.
Therefore, there is a need for a device that economically chills plastic cups while allowing for quick dispensing of the plastic cups to keep up with demand at sporting events.